Government allows deployment of OFWs to safe countries

MANILA, Philippines - The government has allowed the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to 188 countries that complied with Republic Act 10022 or the amended Migrant Workers Act.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) issued a resolution containing the list of the fourth batch of compliant countries that are safe for Filipino workers.

Deployment of OFWs to countries not included in the list is not allowed, POEA warned.

Under Section 3 of RA 10022, the Philippine government will allow deployment of Filipino migrant workers to countries that have “existing labor and social laws protecting the rights of workers; is a signatory to and/or a ratifier of multilateral conventions, declarations or resolutions relating to the protection of workers; and has concluded a bilateral agreement or arrangement with the government on the protection of the rights of OFWs.”

The compliant countries include Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Botswana, China, Dominican Republic, Timor Leste, Iran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Maldives, Micronesia. Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Serbia, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Syria, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Zambia.

Other compliant nations are Angola, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Northern Marianas, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, United States of America, Venezuela, Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France and Germany;

Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Turkey, United Kingdom, Australia, Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Macau, Maldives, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, New Zealand, Palau, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Vietnam, Israel, and Oman.

The POEA has not received a certification for Vatican and Monaco.

According to POEA, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has yet to complete the review of its previous certification issued for Iraq and Libya.

Earlier, the POEA imposed partial or total deployment in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and Yemen because of the armed conflict in these countries.